The present invention relates to a laser radiation detector, and in particular to a pyroelectric detector which not only has a wide spectral response, but also can directly withstand pulse laser radiation with a high power density.
In known pyroelectric detectors the radiation absorbing layer of wide spectral response is gold black which is prepared by vacuum deposition. The maximum radiation power density which such detectors can withstand is thus only 1 MW/cm.sup.2. When a pyroelectric material made of single crystal ferroelectrics is used as the temperature sensitive material, the detector can only be fabricated in the shape of a disk. Such disks are limited in size by the single crystal material, and their cost is high. Other types of detectors include cavity-type detectors which use temperature sensitive elements such as thermocouples as the sensor. Such detectors are lacking, however, in sensitivity and response speed.